Of Morgan and Ember
by VesperX314
Summary: C0-written by Queen Amaryllis Kay as Morgan, myself as Ember.
1. Prologue

I sat with Morgan, my younger sister, in the taxi as we made our way to the Avengers Tower, which was where our godmother, Pepper Potts, lived with her boyfriend Tony Stark. I stared at the gaudy tower, trying to make it fit the idea of "home". I glanced over at Morgan. Now, more than ever, I had to watch out for her, take care of her. Mom and Dad were gone.

The crash had left three survivors. The drivers of the cars on top of the one Mom and Dad were in. I squeezed Morgan's hand gently. At last we arrived at the tower. Up close it was even more gaudy, even more flashy. Just like Stark.

As we grabbed our bags out of the trunk and I paid the cabbie, Morgan wandered up to the door. I joined her and suddenly a voice came from a small speaker.

"Hello, ladies," it said in a British accent. "I am JARVIS, I will show you to your rooms, Miss Potts will be up to meet you when you have settled." The doors opened and slender mechanical arms whirred to pick up our bags, sliding along the walls to our rooms. "Please step into the elevator, ladies, I will take you to your floor."

We stepped into the elevator and JARVIS told us that he was basically the mechanical butler for the whole tower, and that he was ever at our service. The elevator doors opened and our floor was revealed. It looked nothing like the first floor, and it was decorated in a way we both liked. Morgan's room was filled with movie posters, mine with band posters, deep burgundy walls with broad black stripes and black trim. My bags were on my bed, and I began to unpack, keeping an eye on Morgan through our open doors.

I heard the elevator open and Pepper walked in. I vaguely remember her from when we were very young. She was Mom's best friend. And now she would take care of us. She talked to us and I had Morgan close, a hand on her shoulder. I knew what she was going to say. I had heard it all before, how sorry she was, how much it must hurt to lose both parents so young. I wasn't ungrateful, I was just tired of hearing apologies for something they did not do. I knew Morgan was listening, and would fill me in with anything I needed to know.

Before I knew it, Pepper had left. I hugged Morgan with one arm, and went into my room. I looked around, and shut the door, pulling all the shadows into myself and made a cocoon out of it, letting myself become wrapped in it. I stayed in there for a long time… I forgot about the time, and just let myself fall into the blackness of my mind.

When I couldn't hold the shadows around me anymore, I stood and went into the kitchen area to make a snack. I grabbed an apple and sliced it, then put peanut butter on the slices, humming "Bad Apple!"

I checked on Morgan, then took my snack into my room to eat it. Setting the empty plate on the nightstand - when did I eat all those slices? I wonder unemotionally - and curled under the covers, not even bothering to change into my pjs.


	2. Chapter 1

I woke up to a huge picture of Loki's face. Nope, I'm not complaining, I love Loki. Heck, that's probably why I have a huge picture of him over my head in the first place. But I'm getting carried away, let's get back to the story.  
I woke up with a huge picture of Loki's face over my head, and rolled over to check the time. Yes! 6 o clock. Now I could check the news to see if there's more about Loki, or at second best The Avengers, without Tony or Pepper stopping me. It was almost as if they didn't want me to be obsessed- I mean, like Loki. What are the chances of that? Well, whatever.  
So I was up and out in five seconds flat. Well, almost five seconds. Maybe six, or seven, or fifteen minutes. But the important thing is I got up in the end. I dragged myself over to my computer and collapsed in the chair, rubbing my sleep filled eyes. The Sandman is very well and good, but damn, I wish he wouldn't leave so much Dreamsand in my eyes. I can barely see in the mornings.  
I logged on quickly, my fingers flying across the keyboard in the familiar pattern. Five minutes later I was logged on and scrolling through the news, desperately searching for any information on Loki. Finding nothing but the usual about how the construction work in New York was carrying on nicely, I cried out in frustration and threw my hands in the air. Why was there never any news? He destroyed New York! Wouldn't there be something other than reports on stupid buildings! I sighed and buried my head in my hands, which was the position Ember found me in when she came in a minute or two later.  
"What are you doing?" I practically shot out my chair. Ember has a creepy way of, well, creeping up on someone. Seriously, you cannot hear her! It's so weird!  
"Oh, uh, just… on the computer."  
"Yes, I can see that. What are you doing up at 6:30 in the morning in the summer holidays? You usually don't wake up until at least 10 or something." Ember raised her eyebrows.  
"I'm… doing homework?" I offered feebly. Ember shook her head and looked at the computer screen which was still on the article I was reading about what Loki had done. I know, I'm stupid. Just like me to forget to click off when Ember comes in.  
"Morgan, you know Tony and Pepper don't like your obsession with Loki," Ember reproached me. Jeez, why does she think I'm getting up at six for? To do dawn yoga or whatever? Well, that's what I told her. I don't think she was quite impressed with me, but that's my sister for you.  
"Why can't I be obsessed with Loki? It's not as If I'm hurting anyone. And besides-" Ember braced herself for the beginnings of a rant. "I know he's not what he seems to be. They portray him as a mindless monster that doesn't care about anyone and only took over Earth to show how evil he was, but it can't be that simple. He must've had a reason to do what he did. People are more complex than that. I know that somewhere in him, he must have some good, everyone does, and I intend to find it and show the world that he is good deep inside. And I won't let Tony and Pepper stop me because they're probably biased anyway and they don't want him to be good, they want it to be easy; Loki is bad and they are good, the end. But that isn't the case and they need to know it." I stopped, my rant finally over. Seeing her shaking her head amusedly, I huffed and slumped back into my chair. Why did nobody ever take me seriously? It was almost like they thought I was joking around about it all when I was deadly serious. It was so unfair.  
"Well, okay then. But you might want to go back to bed now, or Pepper is going to be seriously annoyed if she finds you here." I laughed sardonically and was about to pull myself up from my chair, when I spotted an email just sitting there in Tony's inbox just waiting to be read. I hate it when emails are left unread, so I clicked on it. It said:  
Donald's come back. Has some important news. We need to have a meeting ASAP. We'll be at TSP 10:00 pm today.  
Natasha.  
Ember eyes met mine, surprise evident on our features. The first thing she said to me was:  
"What are doing on Tony's email account!?"


	3. Chapter 2

"What are you doing on Tony's email account?!" I asked Morgan. "Seriously, you'll get into trouble for getting onto Stark's email. And I shall lie and say I didn't know you were planning on checking on the news for anything on Loki. I was totally asleep." I looked at Morgan and shook my head. "You know they hate your obsession. We've been here a week and your room is covered in giant printed posters of him. It's a little scary. He's attractive, and a god, but you know they only think he is the villain. No one looks at him as deeply as you do, and I by proxy."  
I clicked out of the window on the computer. "I'm going back to bed. If you get us both in trouble, I'll pin you to the ceiling for as long as my shadows will stay up."  
I ruffled her hair. "Go back to sleep. It isn't like we'll ever meet him, there really isn't much use with obsessing, as fun as it is."  
I left her with the computer, and went into my room. Closing the door, I sat on my bed, opened my journal, and took out a small printed picture of Loki. I looked at it, and admitted I was just as enraptured as Morgan, just more subtly. You could see everything in those clear, greenglass eyes. Somehow, someone had snapped a picture of Loki in human clothes and a green-and-gold scarf, holding his staff, in Stuttgart. Before he made those people kneel, before they had Thor drag him back to Asgard. He was so hurt. So misunderstood. No one seemed to understand that but Morgan and I.  
I tucked the picture carefully back into the journal, running a fingertip down Loki's form before shutting the book and putting it away. I pulled out my rune set and drew a rune from the bag. What would you know.. Ansuz, the rune most closely associated with Loki. A rune that says to watch for signals, that truth can come from the least expected of places, and that truth is often revealed in the form of a jest.

"Your email account has been breached, sir," JARVIS told Tony Stark as he worked on upgrades to his suit. "It seems an unauthorized user has read a previously unopened email." JARVIS pulled the email up for Stark to read. Stark read the email and felt he needed the girls out of the house.  
"JARVIS, tell Pepper to take the girls out for a shopping spree, I need them out of the tower for the duration of the meeting. Withdraw two hundred dollars from my account, and give each of the girls a card with a hundred."  
"As you wish, sir."

Pepper drove us to the mall, and when we got there, she gave us each a card worth a hundred dollars. Thanking her, we each found stores we liked, for me, it was Hot Topic. I found some black extensions, new makeup, a Marilyn Manson shirt, and a gorgeous black scrollwork necklace with green stones. Normally I would've picked the red stones, but these green ones were so perfect. I got a pair of sugar skull earrings and a cute black bag with red lace accents.  
After a couple hours, we headed back. When we got through the door, there were lots of people and there, standing in the center of the foyer, stood a rather bored-looking Loki, in the flesh. His eyes glanced over to our direction, and I felt myself blush.  
Then Morgan came through the door.


	4. Chapter 3

And now I was hallucinating. Great. Just wonderful. After all, how else would Loki be standing in the middle of the foyer, surrounded by the other Avengers? Absolutely no freaking way. And yet there he was, in all his magnificent glory, his hair longer than the pictures I had seen, but still unmistakably his. One of the Avenger's worst enemies, standing there in the foyer, not killing each other. Wow. Just wow.

I stood there in the hallway, eyes wider than giant satellites and tried to speak, once, twice, three times, but it seemed my voice had deserted me. It was only after Loki turned to face me fully and raised his eyebrows at my hanging jaw and huge, shocked eyes that I finally managed to talk.

"Fucking hell." Pepper looked as if she was going to tell me off but I beat her to it.

"ABSOLUTELY NO FUCKING WAY!" I screamed, my voice vibrating through the room and everyone wincing at it's unexpected loudness. I didn't give them a chance to recover from it though, before I finally let rip and showed my inner fangirl.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOHMYGODITSLOKISTANDINGTHEREINTHEMIDDLEOFTHEFOYERANDITSLOKIAND-HOWISTHISEVENPOSSIBLETHISMUSTBEADREAMBECAUSETHISSORTOFSTUFFDOESNTHAPPENTOMEANDLIFEISSOCRUELWHYMUSTIDREAMOFLOKI-WHENIWILLNEVERACTUALLYMEETHIMWHOSLIPPEDHALUCINARYBERRIESINMYFOODORDRINK?!"

Everyone stared at me, petrified out of their mind at my outburst, apart from Ember who buried her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking in assumingly mirth, but quite possibly tears. Tony was the first to recover. He ran his hands through his hair and mumbled something about crazy kids before turning to the other Avengers and giving them a helpless look.

Ember was the first to recognize the look on my face. She shook her head violently, trying to dissuade me from carrying out my evil plan but, once again, she was too late. I smiled. And smiled some more. And my grin began to grow wider and wider, as Ember looked on in fear. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but she certainly didn't look happy. My lips tightened over my teeth and my gums showed. Soon, my fangirl smile was set in motion. Everyone in the room looked mildly disturbed, at least. Then, as soon as a light turns off, I stopped smiling. I stared at everyone with huge, creepy eyes and inwardly cackled madly at how creeped out they were. But I had better start being normal, I thought. Tony looks like he's going to explode. Is he going puce...? I squinted at him for a second, decided he was and then turned to the Avengers.

"Hi! I'm Morgan! I've heard a lot about you. Toby just won't stop talking about you! It gets a little annoying sometimes." I practically chirped with my best 'as if I hadn't just pulled a fangirl smile on them' face.

"It's TONY. For the last time. Stop trying to wind me up." Tony said shortly. I smiled mischievously.

"Sure, Toby. Anyway, It's really nice to meet you. Are you Captain America?" I turned suddenly to the Cap, who perplexedly shook the hand I was offering and nodded slowly.

"That's really cool! And you're Black Widow, aren't you? And Thor? And Doctor Banner? And he's...I can't remember. He's probably not important." I pointed at Clint, who looked slightly irritated as you might imagine. The others just looked amused, however. And now, it was time. I turned my head and looked at Loki, my head bowed slightly. To my utter mortification, a blush blossomed on my face. Loki grinned at me, obviously amused by my tomato colored face. I gave a tiny smile back and tuned and walked over to where I had discarded my pack. Picking it up, I sprinted up the stairs and into my room, where I quickly shoved them on the bed, ran a brush through my hair, splashed water on my face and went down looking sincerely less flustered then I had looked five minutes ago.

Let's just say, the rest of the time passed uneventfully. I talked a bit to the Avengers, had an argument with Hawkeye about what was the best; throwing knives (me) or arrows (him, duh). I won, as usual. Then I finally picked up the courage to talk to Loki, who kept glancing at me, totally laughing at me with those eyes... those eyes...

"Um, hi. I'm Morgan. I suppose you're Loki?" So slick, I know. As if I hadn't had a fangirl attack earlier about him.

"I am. I thought you would have known that, since your little... outburst earlier where I might have caught my name once or twice." Touché. My face burned with indignation.

"Uh, yeah. So, can I ask you a question? Why are you here, in the lobby with the other Avengers, who are supposed to be your enemies? After all, you did kinda blow up New York." I smiled at him, satisfied I had gotten him. But he just chuckled and bent down to my height. Woah, he was tall. I guess I hadn't noticed that until he bent down, mainly because I'm a shorty (I'm only thirteen, you can't blame me) and everyone's tall to me.

"Well, what a curious little child you are."

"I'm 13. And not exactly a 'child'. Not innocent enough for a start. A person couldn't exactly remain innocent after hearing all those... interesting tales about you." I clasped me hands behind my back and tried to look at him neutrally, but I probably failed. I'm terrible at hiding my feelings.

"So it seems." He replied, laughing, before going on, "In that case, I will answer your question. The reason I am in this lobby with the 'Avengers', my so called enemies, is because Odin deemed it punishment enough for me to have to work with those I formerly wished to destroy. Not that I have any feelings of companionship with these... mortals. Let us just say, I will not linger hear any longer than necessary."  
I considered this a second, and then smiled. Loki was helping out the Avengers! That would mean that I would probably meet him again at least once. That was the best news I could have wished for. And he was just as handsome in real life as I imagined; no, more! But I better stop fangirling, before I use my fangirl smile and commit you all to mental asylums.

"Is that all you wish to ask then, my lady?" Loki quirked an eyebrow. I sighed. He was doing this to irritate me, but I was prepared for that. He was the 'god' of mischief, after all. And I knew loads of weird stories from mythology to blackmail him with if he ever annoyed me too much.

"Oh, I've got loads and loads of questions I want to ask you, but I sup[pose they can wait a little longer, since you're gonna be sticking around. Wouldn't want to explode you head with questions." And as I turned to leave I added, "And you can call me Morgan." Loki smirked and turned his head slightly to the side, scrutinizing me.

"Well, until we meet again, Morgan."


	5. Chapter 4

I stood by the wall, watching Morgan talking to the Avengers, chestnut hair swirling as she whirled to face each of them with her big brown eyes. Pepper came by and stood by me. She casually, in an almost bored way, tossed her shoulder-length fiery red hair over her shoulder, peering at Tony from under her bangs, the kind that went straight across her forehead. She looked on amusedly as Morgan mispronounced Tony's name yet again, crossing her arms across her chest.  
"I remember when you and Morgan were little," Pepper said. "She was always the center of attention, and you were always more of a watcher. Looks like that hasn't changed much."  
"I feel more comfortable away from the center," I said softly. Pepper looked at me with what I might have misinterpreted as pity. I hated pity. "It's fine, really."  
"Alright. You know you can always talk to me, and so can Morgan. I've known you since you were young."  
I nodded, wishing she'd just leave me in peace. I saw Morgan talking to Hawkeye, who seemed frustrated and agitated. Must be an argument. I knew my sister would win. After a minute or so, I saw that Pepper had decided my silence meant the end of our conversation and had walked over to join Tony.  
I pulled my long dark auburn hair over my shoulder and ran my fingers through it, a nervous habit of mine. My gunmetal-blue eyes looked over the crowd. I had always been uncomfortable in large groups. Yet again I was alone, and rather glad for it. Soon I saw Loki and Morgan talking. I hoped she wouldn't fangirl on him, yet I secretly hoped so, maybe her making a fool of herself would turn him to me… wait, what? I've gone mad, surely, to think that he'd like any of us here, let alone one of a pair of orphans. What were orphans to a prince among gods, even a prince in apparent exile, who had attempted to take over the world through Manhattan using the Chitauri?  
Even so, I thought, surely one has a reason for anything they do. No one does things for no reason, no motive. Morgan and I saw this when no one else seemed to. Loki was the bad guy, they were the good guys. The end. It was as if they didn't remember that everyone has a light, good side and a dark, monstrous side, they didn't understand that one person in themselves is complex.  
During my little inner monologue, I hadn't noticed Loki himself slithering close after talking to Morgan.  
"You seem to have something on your mind… care to share your thoughts?"  
I jumped at his voice, soft but so sudden. I brought my mind's walls up higher, trying to shut down enough I wouldn't say something stupid under the piercing green gaze of Loki.  
"I'm just thinking. Trying to figure it all out." I took a sidelong look at the God of Mischief and I could feel myself blushing, to my horror. I couldn't show any kind of weakness to anyone like this. Who knows what could happen.  
"Your blush betrays you," Loki said casually, straightening the leather and gold-plated braces on his forearms. "You're certainly less talkative than your sister. I know what it's like, living on the side as your sibling thrives in the limelight. It can get frustrating at times."  
I nod, agreeing with his statement. "It's always been that way, ever since Morgan was born. She took up so much room in everyone's hearts I could almost feel myself being pushed out." I shrugged. "I guess I just got used to it."  
Loki said nothing, but his expression said he was thinking. We stood against the wall in silence for a while, and I could almost hear the cogs turning in his brain. I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes. When I opened them, Loki had disappeared. I was alone again.


End file.
